Classification of Vegetation Communities of Maryland: First Iteration

I. FOREST

I.A.8.N.b. Rounded-crowned temperate or subpolar needle-leaved evergreen forest
I.A.8.N.b.5. PINUS ECHINATA FOREST ALLIANCE
Shortleaf Pine Forest Alliance

Concept: This alliance includes forests dominated by Pinus echinata, which on very dry sites may be virtually the only tree species present. This is a wide-ranging alliance; it is currently known from wide areas of the eastern United States from the central Appalachians south, through the Southern Blue Ridge and Cumberland Plateau and Mountains, possibly extending into the Piedmont, and in the central United States in the Ouachita Mountains and Ozarks, extending south into the Gulf Coastal Plain. Other pine species may be present in small amounts; these vary with geography and include Pinus taeda, Pinus virginiana, Pinus pungens, and Pinus rigida. Typical hardwood associates include Quercus alba, Quercus falcata, Quercus velutina, Quercus coccinea, Quercus marilandica, Nyssa sylvatica, Liquidambar styraciflua, Carya alba, and Carya glabra. Understory species vary across the range of the alliance, but some common components are Vaccinium arboreum, Vaccinium pallidum, Vaccinium stamineum, Symplocos tinctoria, Ulmus alata, Diospyros virginiana, Acer rubrum, Cornus florida, and Oxydendrum arboreum. One association in the West Gulf Coastal Plain of Arkansas has Vaccinium elliottii, Aesculus pavia var. pavia, and Chasmanthium laxum. Common herbaceous species in this Coastal Plain association include Smilax glauca, Silphium compositum, Pteridium aquilinum var. latiusculum, Scleria oligantha, Piptochaetium avenaceum, and Tephrosia virginiana. Some associations can result from natural or anthropogenic disturbances such as fire or windstorms, while others occur naturally on the landscape, are maintained by edaphic situations, and may even be 'climax' on these sites. Soils of these forests are acidic and are derived from sandstone, chert or granitic rock situated on ravines, ridges, and steep, often south-facing, slopes; the surface is often rocky. In the Coastal Plain, this alliance is particularly typical of clay soils, on hillsides, ridges, flats, and low hills. In the Ouachita Mountains and Ozarks, forests of this alliance typically occur on south-facing slopes and saddles, and rocky outcrops and bluffs, but may also occur on lower, north-facing slopes and flat uplands, especially in the Piedmont.

Comments: Stands have suffered some damage from the southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis).

Range: This is a wide-ranging alliance; it is currently known from wide areas of the eastern United States from the central Appalachians south, through the Southern Blue Ridge and Cumberland Plateau and Mountains, possibly extending into the Piedmont, and in the central United States in the Ouachita Mountains and Ozarks, extending south into the Gulf Coastal Plain. Associations in this alliance are found in southern Missouri, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and possibly in West Virginia.

States/Provinces: AL AR GA KY LA MD MO MS NC OK SC TN TX WV?

TNC Ecoregions: 38:C, 39:C, 40:C, 41:C, 42:C, 43:C, 44:C, 50:C, 51:C, 52:P, 53:C, 59:C

USFS Ecoregions: 221Db:CCC, 221Ha:CCP, 221Hc:CCC, 221He:CCC, 221Jb:CCC, 221Jc:CCP, 222A:CC, 222Ej:CPP, 222En:CP?, 222Eo:CPP, 222Hc:CCC, 231Aa:CCC, 231Ab:CCP, 231Ac:CCP, 231Ad:CC?, 231Ae:CCC, 231Ag:CCP, 231Ah:CCP, 231Ai:CCP, 231Aj:CCP, 231Ak:CCP, 231Al:CCC, 231Am:CCP, 231An:CCP, 231Ao:CCP, 231Ap:CCP, 231Bb:CPP, 231Bc:CPP, 231Bd:CPP, 231Be:CPP, 231Bg:CP?, 231Bk:CP?, 231Ca:C??, 231Da:CP?, 231Dc:CPP, 231Ea:CCC, 231Ef:CCC, 231Ej:CCC, 231Fa:CPP, 231Ga:CCC, 231Gb:CCC, 231Gc:CCC, 232Ba:CCC, 232Bb:CCP, 232Bd:CC?, 232Bj:CC?, 232Bk:CC?, 232Bm:CCC, 232Fe:CCC, 234Ab:CCC, M221A:CC, M221B:C?, M221Ca:CC?, M221Cd:CCP, M221Ce:CCC, M221Dc:CCC, M221Dd:CCC, M222A:CC, M231Aa:CCP, M231Ab:CCC, M231Ac:CCC

Federal Lands: DOD (Camp Robinson); NPS (Buffalo, Cowpens, Great Smoky Mountains?, Kings Mountain, Shiloh); TVA (Tellico); USFS (Angelina, Bienville, Chattahoochee, Cherokee?, Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, De Soto, Holly Springs, Mark Twain, Nantahala, Oconee, Ouachita, Ozark, Sabine NF, St. Francis, Sam Houston, Sumter, Talladega?, Tombigbee, Tuskegee)

Synonymy: IA6a. Dry Shortleaf Pine - Oak - Hickory Forest, in part (Allard 1990); IA7a. Xeric Shortleaf Pine - Oak Forest, in part (Allard 1990); Dry Shortleaf Pine - Oak Forest, in part (Foti 1994b); Pinus echinata forest alliance, in part (Hoagland 1998a); Pine--Oak/Heath, in part (Nelson 1986); Shortleaf Pine CP, BR, RV (Pyne 1994); T1A9bI1a. Pinus echinata (Foti et al. 1994); Shortleaf Pine: 75, in part (Eyre 1980); Shortleaf Pine - Oak: 76, in part (Eyre 1980)

References: Allard 1990, Allred and Mitchell 1955, Bruner 1931, Cain and Shelton 1994, Eyre 1980, Faber-Langendoen et al. 1996, Foti 1994b, Foti et al. 1994, Fountain and Sweeney 1987, Frothingham et al. 1926, Hoagland 1998a, Nelson 1986, Pyne 1994, Racine 1966

Authors: D.J. ALLARD, RW, Southeast Identifier: A.119

Concept: This association includes forest vegetation with greater than 75% of the canopy cover of Pinus echinata, occurring over a shrub stratum dominated by ericaceous species, typically Vaccinium pallidum, Vaccinium stamineum, and Kalmia latifolia. Deciduous species make-up less than 25% of the canopy coverage and may include Quercus falcata, Quercus coccinea, or, in the southern part of this association's range, Quercus stellata and Quercus marilandica. This community often has a midstory tree stratum with Oxydendrum arboreum, Carya pallida, Cornus florida, or Diospyros virginiana. Other characteristic species include Smilax glauca, Silphium compositum, Pteridium aquilinum var. latiusculum, Scleria oligantha, Piptochaetium avenaceum, and Tephrosia virginiana. These forests occur in the lower elevations (below 2400 feet) of the southern Appalachian Mountains on ridges and upper slopes, typically with southern to western exposures.

Comments: Includes successional forests with a hardwood shrub/sapling stratum.

Range: These forests occur in the lower elevations of the southern Appalachian Mountains.

States/Provinces: GA:S?, KY:S5, MD:S?, NC:S4,S4, SC:S?, TN:S?

TNC Ecoregions: 51:C, 52:P

USFS Ecoregions: 222Hc:CCC, M221A:CC, M221Ce:CCC, M221Dc:CCC, M221Dd:CCP

Federal Lands: NPS (Great Smoky Mountains?); USFS (Chattahoochee, Cherokee?, Nantahala, Sumter)

Synonymy: Shortleaf Pine, BR (Pyne 1994), IA6a. Dry Shortleaf Pine - Oak - Hickory Forest (Allard 1990) B. in part, Shortleaf pine/heath forest of dry, acidic steep slopes (CAP pers. comm. 1998), Low Mountain Pine Forest (Shortleaf Pine Subtype) (Schafale 1998b)

References: Allard 1990, CAP pers. comm. 1998, Evans 1991, NatureServe Ecology - Southeastern U.S. unpubl. data, Nelson 1986, Pyne 1994, Schafale 1998b, Schafale and Weakley 1990

Authors: S. Simon, G. Kauffman, D. Danley, SCS Confidence: 2 Identifier: CEGL007078  

- Maryland Vegetation Classification Subset Report I.A. Evergreen forest

- Maryland Vegetation Classification Subset Report V.D. Annual graminoid or forb vegetation

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